Love In The Time Of Dragons
by LERDM
Summary: A desperate Legolas uses unconventional methods to get to know both his mother and father better, while uncovering the story of how Thranduil met Celeial, and how she died. This is a story about love, war and above all family. Thranduil x OC
1. Chapter 1

Thanks for opening up the story and giving me a shot to win you over! Some important notes; one, this story will take place just before the events of The Hobbit, and Two, you pronounce Celeial (Cell-Eee-Al)

* * *

Love In The Time Of Dragons: Chapter One

* * *

Legolas often sat in his mother's garden, thinking about her, desperately trying to regain some piece of her in his memory. Silver hair and bright blue eyes flashed before him, he saw her smile and heard her laugh, but then it was gone, suddenly and inexplicably gone. His memories of her were like ghosts, fleeting and transparent. He had heard stories about her often. Never from his father though, if anyone even mentioned her name in front of him it was enough to send him spiralling into a rage, no he hadn't heard stories from his father. He had heard them from Elrond, some from Galadriel, even once from Celeborn. Elrond often spoke of their love for each other, how, at the time, some thought it was the most in love two living beings had ever been. Galadriel spoke mostly of her past, how she was the greatest warrior Middle Earth had ever seen, how she had hidden her heritage from his father so she could fight in the wars that raged long ago. Celeborn only told him one thing, that her last words were given telling Thranduil to keep their son safe.

Legolas was entranced in his thought that he didn't even notice his father had come to sit next to him on the stone bench, he was so lost in his head that he nearly screeched when his father began to speak to him.

"What do you wish to ask me Legolas?" Thranduil asked, Legolas jumped, frightened. "I did not mean to frighten you" Thranduil said, he was slightly amused at his sons reaction, but made no outward sign of it.

"How did you know that I wanted to ask you something?" Legolas asked him.

"Your head is spinning with questions" He replied cryptically.

"I..." Legolas paused for a moment, not knowing how to start, "I want to know more about my mother". At this Thranduil closed his eyes and looked downwards, with sadness tugging at his eyes. He never spoke of his late wife Celeial to Legolas, or to anyone for that matter, but the look on Legolas' face just now, made him feel guilty for never saying much.

"What do you want to know?" Thranduil asked his son. Legolas looked at his father somewhat shocked, he had asked only once before and was met with a cold silence, but now Legolas was nearly lost for words.

"Well, I was hoping that you might be able to show me... Lord Elrond said it can be done, to show one's memories to another, and I-" Legolas was cut off by his fathers protests.

"Absolutely not! Do you know what you ask to do? You would feel everything I felt, the first time I met your mother we were fighting a dragon. In that time war was everywhere, do you know the number of times I nearly died? I-"

"No! No! I wouldn't know how may times you've nearly died, or how many wars you've fought I because you never told me! I am your son and you treat me like a guest in your home and I'm sick of this! Let me do it, please father" Legolas said. Thranduil did not know whether to be angry at his son's lack of respect or be proud at his heart and spirit. Thranduil wanted to say yes, but he didn't want his son to have to go through all the painful memories and moments which still kept him up at night. He looked into his sons pleading eyes and saw that Legolas had prepared himself for this, he was ready to face whatever he may see in his father's memories.

"If this is truly what you want, then who am I to deny you" At this Legolas' face lit up, "But first we must summon Lord Elrond, this kind of magic requires power beyond my ability"

"Of course, I will oversee that" Legolas said as he turned to leave, but he paused, "Thank you father" he said, Thranduil imply gave him a weary nod.


	2. Chapter 2

What did you think of the first chapter? Just a reminder, you pronounce her name like Celeial (Cell-Eee-al). Enjoy!

* * *

Love In The Time Of Dragons: Chapter Two

* * *

When Elrond received notice from Legolas that his plan was going to be seen through, he was quite surprised. Legolas had often come to visit Rivendale, and on his most recent visit, he had been asking about his mother. He had questions that Elrond could not answer, so he proposed a solution that would allow Legolas to get the answers he desired, while still enabling Thranduil to remain silent on the matter. Elrond knew there were risks, the main one being that if Legolas could not handle what he felt or saw in his father's memories, then his mind would become lost and he would never wake up. The letter that Legolas had sent was asking him to come as quickly as he could, and he would not disappoint the young prince.

He send a messenger to find his sons Elladan and Elrohir, he told them that he was leaving for Mirkwood immediately and that he was leaving Rivendale in their capable hands. With that dealt with, he left, he took only two guards and the fastest horses they had. By his expectations they would reach Mirkwood in a day and a half.

* * *

A day and a half later in Mirkwood...

Thranduil received word that Elrond had safely arrived, he breathed out a worried sigh. He almost could not believe that he had agreed to this ridiculous plan, but he knew that Legolas needed this to truly finish grieving his mothers death, something even Thranduil hadn't done himself. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her standing in front of him, in her warrior garb with black blood smattered on her face, chest heaving from breathing heavy, but yet she smiled. That is how he remembered her, not in the fancy dresses she hated, but as a warrior. He was taken from his thoughts as Legolas, accompanied by Elrond entered the room, Thranduil turned to face Elrond and gave a short bow which Elrond reciprocated in kind.

"Are you ready to begin my son?" Thranduil asked. Legolas simply nodded.

"Then we shall begin" Elrond said, "Legolas, you will experience your father's memories as he remembers them, you won't be in his body exactly, but you'll be close by. You will feel everything he felt, see everything he saw... Are you sure you are ready? For if you are not ready to face the pain you may encounter, we may lose your mind to limbo" Elrond cautioned Legolas once more, but a determined Legolas replied back.

"I am ready, I know the risks". Thranduil and Elrond glanced at each other, neither believing that they were really going to go through with this, but yet, they had gotten this far.

"Lie on the bed, and we shall begin" Elrond told Legolas. Legolas did as he was told and lied down on the bed, Elrond and Thranduil took chairs next to the bed.

"Before we begin, I want you to know that the most pain you will experience inside my head will happen right away, probably only a few minutes into my memories, be ready" Thranduil said to Legolas, who nodded.

"Here we go" Elrond spoke before he started muttering the words to the spell that would temporarily bind the minds of Legolas and Thranduil together. At first Legolas thought it was not working, but then suddenly he was blinded by a brilliant flash of white light.

* * *

Legolas opened his eyes to see a battlefield, the bodies of dead elves were laying around, but what really caught his eye was the giant dragon in the centre of the carnage, Legolas came closer to the main fight and noticed his father, who looked slightly younger than he did now. Thranduil was fighting beside a woman who was almost certainly his mother, she was wearing a helmet, so it was a little hard to tell, but Legolas would know those dark blue eyes anywhere.

Suddenly, the she-elf made her move while the dragon was distracted by Thranduil, she gracefully jumped upon the dragon's wing and ran up onto it's back where she plunged her long blade into it's back, it was most certainly a killing blow, but not right away, the dragon still had time for one more burst of angry fire as it flipped the she-elf off it's back and right next to Thranduil, who looked down concernedly at her, her helmet came flying off her head, and in that moment Legolas had no doubt it was his mother. She groaned and as she got to her knees and looked towards the dragon, she could tell that it would be dead soon, but it was eyeing them with rage, she glanced over at the Prince next to her, and realizing that the dragon was about to burn them to a crisp, she lunged towards him and pushed him on the ground. She landed on top of him as the dragon breathed its last fiery breath onto them.

The viewing Legolas watched in horror as the dragons fire engulfed his parents, but he had little time to dwell on that as pain like he had never felt before began to engulf him. He fell to the ground screaming and clutching his face and neck, the pain began to fade slightly, and then stopped completely, Legolas looked around confused, but then realized that it must have stopped because his father must have fallen unconscious, and Legolas too began to feel the pull of darkness around his eyes, but before he fell unconscious he saw the dragon fall dead to the ground, and he saw many elves run towards his parents.

* * *

Meanwhile In Mirkwood...

Elrond and Thranduil watched over Legolas carefully, for the first few minutes, he seemed okay, but then his face contorted in pain and he let out a pained scream. At this Thranduil stood up and started pacing, he ran his hands over his face.

"I should have never let him do this" he said quietly, but not quite quiet enough that Elrond couldn't hear.

"What's happening right now?" Elrond asked, even though it may not seem like it, Elrond was actually younger than Thranduil, and so he did not know about many of the things Thranduil did in his youth.

"This was when I lead the army of Greenwood against a serpent nest in the north, we had been told that there were only baby dragons, that their mother had abandoned them, so we went and we killed all of them, and just as we had won, their mother returned" Thranduil glanced at Legolas on the bed, whose screams had stopped, "Celeial saved my life, she was the one that killed it, but we were both terribly injured, her more than I..." Thranduil trailed off as the illusion that covered his face started to falter and Elrond got a brief glimpse of what had happened. Of course Elrond had heard of this incident from others, but seeing the damage was different, he was surprised that he had survived that ordeal. And if Celeial truly was injured worse than him, Elrond was even more surprised, since he had seen Celeial many times, and she never gave the appearance of many scars, certainly not extreme burns, but perhaps she had also had a similar illusion cast over her, this would not surprise him as she was known for her strength in those sorts of things, she had taken after her mother in that way.

Thranduil watched over Legolas, and sat back down once he saw his son's face relax, but he couldn't help but feel like he had made a mistake by letting his son do this.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! What are your thoughts on the story so far? Comments/Reviews really motivate me to write faster, so please comment!

* * *

Love In The Time Of Dragons: Chapter Three

* * *

Legolas' eyes opened blearily, he was standing in a white room which he recognized as the healer's hall back in Mirkwood, he felt a dull aching pain on the parts of his body that had been burned before. He saw his father laying on one of the white cots in the middle of the room, Thranduil swung his legs over the side of the bed and Legolas gasped, nearly half of his face was burned off. None of the healers noticed because they were all surrounding another bed where suddenly, a loud scream emanated from. Thranduil glanced over to the source of the noise, but first he looked at a mirror that was hanging on a wall next to the bed he was in, the one eye that was working widened. He brought his hand up to his face, and a deep look of concentration passed over him, and it appeared like his face was healing, in reality it wasn't, but the illusional magic he had used had made it seem like his face was now fine. With that handled, Thranduil walked over to the bed where all the healer's were gathered. One of them noticed him and nearly passed out.

"Oh! My Lord, you should not be up, and your face... it's..."

"It's fine, who is this?" He asked them, and they all looked at him with questioning eyes, as if he was supposed to know who it was. He was quite entranced by her, she long silver hair and dark blue eyes and her skin was as pale as moonlight.

"This is the Captain of the garrison, and one of your father's most trusted advisors" The elf he had spoken to earlier told him, at this he raised an eyebrow, he could vaguely remember seeing her before, but never with his father.

"Where is my father?" Thranduil asked no one in particular, but his question is answered when his father opened the doors. Legolas watched with wide eyes as his grandfather walked into the room, Oropher died long before Legolas was born in The Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

"Father" Thranduil greeted Oropher, who looked at his son with a confused eye.

"Your face is fixed?" he asked.

"No, it is an illusion, but I am fine" Thranduil replied.

"Good" Oropher said as he walked past Thranduil and went to the she-elf, Thranduil followed him to her bedside.

"She was the one that killed the mother dragon, she saved my life..." Thranduil said sadly as he watched her writhe in pure agony, in only a few moments however, she seemed to calm.

"What are the extent of her injuries?" Oropher asked the head healer, concerned.

"Well, her armour did protect her from what would have been deadly burns, but unfortunately, her armour melted slightly and has solidified onto her skin... We were just discussing how we are going to manage to unbind her skin with the metal, she also has three deep puncture wounds, but we can't get at them because of the metal"

"Well that doesn't sound good" the she-elf said from the bed with pain in her voice, she looked over to Oropher, "Your son... is he..." she shuddered and gasped in pain.

"I'm fine thanks to you" Thranduil said as he stepped forward, she breathed out an audible sigh of relief, before she cried out in pain and threw her head back against the pillows.

It pained Legolas to see his mother in such pain, but the healer's quickly gave her a herbal remedy that made her sleep so they could do their work and she could rest. In the meantime, Thranduil had begun to feel lightheaded and stumbled backwards, the illusion he had cast on himself had begun to fade, and holding it for that long had taken a toll on him, plus, Legolas could see blood seeping from a bandaged wound on Thranduil's side.

Legolas' vision became blurry, and he soon found that once again, everything was going black.


End file.
